Party at the Tower
by AmyVS7
Summary: Steve and Natasha have to attend Stark's birthday in New York, the party turns out to be a lot more fun than they original anticipated. Multi ship fic. Steve/Natasha based.
1. Chapter 1

Party

Avengers fic

Pairings: Steve/Natasha, Thor/Jane, Pepper/Tony, slight Sam/Darcy

Spoilers: The Avengers and Captain America The Winter Soldier

Summary: Steve and Natasha have to attend Stark's birthday in New York, the party turns out to be a lot more fun than they original anticipated. Multi ship fic, Steve/Natasha based.

 **Party at the Tower**

Captain Steve Rogers had just returned from a training session at his local gym, he had showered and changed and was now in grey jogging bottoms and a navy t-shirt as he mooched around his apartment, contemplating plans for dinner that evening. There was a knock on the front door and when he answered it he was surprised to see the grinning face of Natasha Romanoff standing on the other side.

"Natasha?"

"Rogers" Natasha nodded, but the grin was evident on her face.

Steve chuckled as he brought her into a hug "Good to see you, it's been too long."

"Getting sentimental on me Cap, you know I don't do sentiment."

"I know you don't, but I do" Steve said, cheerily as he withdrew from the hug "Come in."

As Natasha stepped inside, dressed in black fitted trousers, wedged black shoes, a white tank top with which a black jacket adorned. She surveyed the apartment before turning to Steve as he spoke to her.

"So what brings you here, it's been what... four months since I saw you last? You could have kept in touch."

"Why, have you missed me?" Natasha joked, with one eyebrow raised.

Steve smiled, honestly "What do you think?"

' _That means yes'_ Natasha thought inwardly, but said out loud "Oh I know what you think, you can't lie, remember."

Steve just rolled his eyes and sat on the sofa, whilst Natasha sat in an arm chair opposite him.

"Well I thought it was about time we crossed paths again" Natasha admitted "And I thought we could go to New York together for Stark's party?"

"You were invited to that?" Steve seemed surprised.

Natasha didn't, as she frowned "Yeah, why weren't you?"

"Yeah of course, but if you've been off the radar how did Stark get in contact with you?"

"Oh you know Stark, he has his ways. Plus when Pepper knew that Stark had managed to get hold of me, she kept hounding me aswell so there was no escaping it" Natasha smiled "So are we going then?"

"Uh yeah, if you want. Stark said we can use one of his planes to get there."

"I thought we could drive, my Corvette is outside."

"The plane would be quicker."

"Exactly" Natasha said with a sly grin "Gives us an excuse to be a bit late."

Steve laughed and shook his head "Yeah I have to admit the party is not something i'm very much looking forward to. Stark will just use it as a way of trying to persuade me to come and live in the Avengers tower with the rest of them."

"Yeah that's the reason I wasn't keen on going either, Stark doesn't let up about that. I dunno why he would want me there in the first place."

"He likes the whole team bonding element to it, having us all living under one roof."

"I like my independance and my privacy, I don't think group living is really for me. Plus no one could tolerate living with me, Clint barely survived when we had to do months of undercover work."

"Oh I don't know about that. Out of everyone on our team, I get along with you the most. So I wouldn't mind living with you" Steve half blushed as he confessed this, much to the Black Widow's delight.

"Are you trying to flatter me, Rogers?" Natasha teased.

"Always Romanoff" Steve teased her back, playing her at her own game.

Natasha smiled an impressive smile, he was learning quickly.

"Well if that's the case, you can get my bags from the car downstairs."

Steve's quick reflexes allowed him to catch the car keys that Natasha quickly threw in his direction, before he even had chance to argue with her. He got up with a mock salute and a "Yes Ma'am." This just made Natasha laugh and roll her eyes as Steve left the apartment.

He returned quickly with a small backpack and also holding what was clearly a dress, hung up in a bag that had been lying in the boot of the car.

"Did you want this aswell?" he said, holding it up to her.

Natasha got up from her seat, where she had been casually flicking through the TV Guide, and took it off Steve.

"Yeah it's my dress for the party. Have you got somewhere I can hang it? I don't want to get it all creased."

"Yeah just hang it in my wardrobe if you want" Steve said, thinking nothing of it as he put her other bag by his feet, a sudden thought then occurring to him "Hang on, are you planning on staying here?"

"I thought that was fairly obvious, Cap" Natasha grinned, and she playfully pinched his cheek and headed to his bedroom.

Steve looked baffled for a second before remarking loudly to her "Nice to be kept informed!"

...

Steve and Natasha got Chinese takeaway that evening, discussing Natasha's time away and what Steve had been up to. They had a lot to catch up on and they talked well into the early hours of the morning, until Natasha excused herself and headed to the bathroom and changed into black shorts and a red vest top and she returned to the living-room, where Steve was clearing up the empty takeaway trays and their now empty wine glasses.

"Want any help clearing up before bed?" Natasha enquired, her eyes showing her tiredness.

Steve shook his head "No, no, you're fine. I'll set up my bed on the sofa, then I'll leave you in peace."

"Steve, you don't need to do that. I'm more than happy to sleep on the sofa."

"No I can't have that" Steve said, adamantly "You take my bed, I'll have the sofa. No arguments."

Natasha liked that Steve still held on to some of his 1940s mentality, it was rather touching and actually something refreshing to hear.

"Well if you are going to insist on that, then let me insist on you joining me."

Steve looked at her, startled "What?!"

Natasha laughed "Don't look so surprised Steve, I wasn't insinuating anything. Just sleep."

"Natasha" Steve said, warily.

Natasha moved closer to the super soldier as she made her point.

"Steve, let's face it, you aren't going to fit well enough on that sofa to get a good night's sleep. We can share a bed, it isn't such a big deal."

Natasha could see Steve was trying to wrestle with the logical points she was putting forward, against his old fashioned values, so she smiled reassuringly and approached him further, closing the gap between them.

"Good night, Cap" she kissed his cheek and left him alone in the living-room.

A matter of ten minutes later, Steve came into his bedroom to see Natasha lying in bed facing the wall, on the side that was furthest away from the door. Natasha was not close to sleep yet, and could hear Steve moving around in the room as he got ready for bed. She snuck a quick peak over her shoulder and could see that Steve was stood with his back to her, shirtless, as he was rummaging through a drawer looking for something. The Black Widow admired the Captain's amazing muscles, even if she couldn't get a good view at them all, upon thinking this she could feel her cheeks going red. She quickly returned to lying with her back to Steve as she saw him put a fresh top on, before Natasha felt the weight on the mattress as Steve got in the bed beside her.

She then turned her head again to say to Steve, cheekily "I win Rogers."

Steve grinned to himself, as he now lay with his back to her.

"Enough Romanoff" he tried to say seriously but ended up chuckling, as did she, before silence fell upon the room.

...

Following a lazy lie in the next morning, Steve and Natasha headed into the centre of Washinton D.C. for a walk about and did a bit of shopping. Steve had nothing decent to wear to Stark's party, and Pepper had insisted on them all wearing formal attire, so Natasha set herself the task of helping Steve pick out a new suit. This was a lot more difficult than it looked, with some people starting to recognise the two Avengers as they moved from store to store. Steve even had chance to get Natasha something, whilst she had popped off quickly to get some things for herself.

Steve was sat in the corner of the food court, the cap on his head helping to cover his face and he was reading a newspaper. No one bothered him, until he heard a cough and he looked up to see Natasha stood there, holding a bag in one hand and giving him a quirky smile.

"Not going to buy a girl a coffee?"

Steve raised his eyebrows and made to get up, putting his paper down "Okay, as it's you. I'll be right back."

Natasha took a seat in a chair opposite Steve's. He had picked a good spot, it was out of the way from most other tables, and the food court wasn't even that busy considering it was mid-afternoon and the lunch time rush had eased off. A coffee was placed in front of Natasha minutes later, with Steve taking up his earlier seat.

"So, you got what you needed?"

"Yeah just some toiletries and stuff, needed to stock up before I head back off on my travels."

"Decided when that will be yet?" Steve asked, before taking a sip of his own coffee.

"Not yet" Natasha eyed Steve with a small smile "Trying to see if there are any reasons to stick around first."

Steve wasn't sure what she meant by that statement, but with the look on the Widow's face she wasn't going to give in to his questioning, so he decided to change the subject.

"Anyway, whilst you were gone" He reached under the table for the bag and placed it on the table in front of Natasha "I saw this and thought of you."

Natasha looked at Steve in confusion "What is it? Why are you getting me a present?"

"Just open it" Steve chuckled, now feeling rather nervous.

Natasha took the small black box out of the bag and opened it to reveal some stunning black diamond earrings.

"I know you don't wear much jewellery, but I thought they would go nice with your dress tonight. I've never heard of black diamonds before, but apparently they are like normal diamonds but at their most natural and toughest form. That just reminded me of you for some reason... it's stupid I know."

Natasha was genuinely touched, and gave a beaming smile at the Captain.

"It's not stupid. They're, they're beautiful Steve, thank-you. A very thoughful gift, one I really don't deserve."

"Why don't you let me decide that" Steve smiled sweetly at her.

"Thank-you" Natasha reached over and kissed Steve's cheek "I love them. And you're right, they will go perfectly with my dress."

Steve couldn't help but feel the slightest bit relieved, he thought Natasha would hate his choice of jewellery, after all he had never bought her any kind of present before and was not sure what she liked and what she didn't.

Following their coffee, they returned back to Steve's place not long later to get ready for the party. It was 6pm and Steve was now waiting for Natasha in the living-room, he had on a smart white shirt and was wearing a black suit and a navy tie and very smart shiny black shoes. Natasha soon appeared from his bedroom, dressed in a floor length black dress, which was a halter neck style and was completely backless. She had on the earrings that Steve had bought her and her flaming red hair was tied up in a very vintage style, pillar box red was her lipstick colour of choice. She had on stiletto black heels and walked towards her team mate with ease.

Her team mate in question looking stunned "Natasha!"

"Will I do?"

"Very much so" Steve coughed as he composed himself "You look amazing. And the earrings look great."

"Thank-you, I quite agree about the earrings. And I must say" Natasha said as she looked Steve up and down "You don't look so bad yourself, Captain" Natasha adjusted his tie for him and gave him a kiss on the cheek before smiling up at him "Come on then, we've got a party to go to."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Steve grabbed his and Natasha's bags, the ones that contained their overnight things, and they headed down to the car that was waiting for them.

After a long argument with Tony over the phone, the two Avengers had agreed to use his private plane as their way of getting to the party. After all it was under Pepper's strict instructions that no one should be late, and the last thing Tony wanted to do was upset Pepper, so he forced his fellow Avengers into agreeing to the plane.

After a short journey, but a very comfortable and luxurious one at that, Natasha and Steve arrived in New York and a car was waiting to pick them up and drive them to the Avengers Tower. Following the security clearance, they got into the building and took the lift to the top of the tower.

"Well here we go, party time" Steve grinned anxiously, as he was trying to adjust his tie in the mirror of the lift.

"Oh let me do it" Natasha insisted and fixed it for him easily "Not keen on the whole tie thing are you, Cap?"

"No, it's a bit too formal for me."

"Maybe you'd prefer a bow tie, more your era isn't it?" Natasha teased, much to Steve's amusement.

"And to think I was going to escort you into this party!"

"Aw no, you can't back out on that!" Natasha took it upon herself to link her arm with Steve's "Remember, party time!" she tried to say with much enthusiasm, but Steve wasn't buying it as he just chuckled.

Seconds later the lift doors opened onto the main living area of the Avengers tower, and Natasha and Steve were surprisingly met with a rather empty room as they walked out of of the lift.

"Hey! Here's America's golden couple!" Tony called loudly, as he came over with Pepper. Both of them happened to be standing close to the lift, chatting with drinks in hand.

"Tony, shut up!" Pepper hit him on the arm gently, before she hugged Natasha and Steve.

"I agree with Pepper" Natasha commented "But Happy Birthday Stark."

"Thank-you, Red" Tony beamed and turned to Steve "Cap, nice to see you."

"And you, Happy Birthday" Steve said, before he surveyed the scene.

Thor, Jane and Darcy were standing outside on the terrace area, looking out at the city, chatting and having a laugh about something. Then there was Clint and Bruce inside at the drinks area, pouring some more champagne into some glasses. It was going to be a small intimate party according to Pepper, so she had only invited a very select group of people. Fury and Hill had other engagements and so had declined the invitation.

"Thanks for inviting us" Steve continued, as his attention drew back to the couple in front of him, he noticed Natasha too was surveying the other party guests.

"How could I not invite our favourite super soldier? We barely get to see enough of you as it is. Still not changed your mind about New York, Cap?"

"Sorry Stark, but you know Washington is my home now. I like it there a lot."

"I thought as much" Stark remarked glumly, before turning his attention to Natasha "And our offer of accommodation to our other favourite team mate is still open, Red? Or are you still playing the role of weary traveller?"

Natasha's stern gaze fell on him "I work better moving around all over the place. You know I don't like to stay in one place for too long, Stark."

"Are you sure, because we've just renovated the east wing of the tower and it would be perfect for you and also for you Cap, there's plenty of room. How about..."

But Tony was quickly interrupted by Pepper who could see Natasha and Steve, particularly Natasha, starting to get a bit aggravated with Tony's pestering.

"How about we go and get some drinks? And Tony can go and put your bags in your rooms?"

"Yes, sounds good to me!" Natasha answered all too gratefully, before quickly accepting Steve's offer of linking her arm with his again, as they went with Pepper to grab their drinks. Whilst Tony begrudgingly accepted Pepper's request and took the bags off Steve and headed into the lift.

Bruce was waiting with open arms as he hugged Steve and then Natasha.

"Nice to see you Cap, and you too Natasha, it's been a while."

"Sure has" Natasha exchanged pleasantries before she eyed the attire of the two men in front of her "It's so strange seeing you both in suits."

"Well I didn't want to wear one" said Clint, who had attended the party in an all black suit, including the shirt and tie. "But Pepper insisted, she called me numerous times to make sure I was wearing formal attire."

"Quite right too, after you didn't dress formally for Thor's birthday a few months ago" Pepper reminded him "And you all look great, and I have to say Natasha that dress is beautiful. And I love those earrings, where did you get them?"

Natasha touched one of the earrings gently as she said "I don't know, you'll have to ask Steve."

Clint, Pepper and Bruce all turned to Steve who had a slight blush creeping up onto his face.

Clint sussed this immediately "Did you buy them?"

Steve could have sworn he sensed a tone of annoyance in Clint's words, but answered him anyway.

"Uh, yeah. We were shopping earlier today and I thought they would go nicely with whatever dress Nat had picked out."

"Nat?" Clint said, slightly surprised and turned to Natasha "Since when do you let people call you Nat?"

"Since whenever. Steve is a team mate, fellow Avenger, and a good friend so why can't he call me that?" Natasha frowned "What's it to you anyway?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Clint looked aggravated now and glanced over at the other group when he heard Thor's booming laughter as they had now just come back into the room. "Oh I remembered I was supposed to get Thor a drink" he quickly grabbed some champagne "Don't want to make the God of Thunder angry." And he walked away from them over to Thor, Jane and Darcy.

"I thought that was me that you didn't want to make angry?" Bruce joked.

This diffused the tension beautifully as Pepper, Steve and Natasha laughed.

"Yeah we wouldn't want that at all, you've destroyed this room once before already, Bruce" Pepper smiled as she put her arm around Bruce, as he gave her a guilty look, which the rest just laughed off.

"Hey Mr Muscle, get over here!" Darcy shouted across the room, a grinning smile on her face. Quite a few of the male Avengers looked at her, Darcy realised what she said and then laughed "Okay, not selective enough for this crowd. I meant Spangles."

Steve laughed "Really Darcy, is that my new nickname?" as he and Natasha went to greet the other group.

"Sure is" Darcy beamed as she hugged Steve.

"Well I suppose that's better than Mr. Muscle, which suits Thor much better really."

The God of Thunder in question, frowned at first at the laughter, but couldn't contain his joy at seeing his fellow Avenger any longer, and beamed at Steve.

"It's been too long my friend!" he hugged Steve tightly, before turning to the lone female Avenger.

"And you too Lady Natasha, where have you been all this time? Jane tells me you were last in ... Washington?"

"Yeah I was Thor" Natasha grinned "Just giving old Spangles here a helping hand" Natasha bumped Steve with her hip.

"Not that I needed any help of course" Steve retaliated, cheekily.

"Yeah not at _all_!" Natasha continued their teasing as they both smiled.

Thor looked perplexed "If Lord Steven didn't need any help, then why were you assisting him?"

"Sarcasm Thor, remember I've been teaching you about that" Jane told the Asgardian.

Thor still looked a little confused, but planted a smile on his face as he drunk the last of his champagne. "This bubble drink is exquisite! I need more of it though; it's not enough to get merry on."

"Are you joking?!" Darcy laughed "Two glasses of this and I'm anybody's!"

"Anybody's what?" Both Thor and Steve said in unison, causing all three women to laugh.

"Never mind, I'll go and get you some more" Jane offered.

"No need Miss Foster" Tony remarked, as he had returned back to join the others, with more champagne in hand "Here point break, there's two for you."

Seconds later the party was interrupted by a rather excitable cheer, as Sam Wilson appeared from the lift, announcing his arrival.

"Hey, hey, the party can now begin. Falcon is in town!"

Natasha and Steve laughed both in shock and happiness at seeing Sam at the party. Whilst Darcy, Jane and Thor looked perplexed as to who this stranger was.

"Sam! What are you doing here?" Steve said, as Falcon made a beeline for his Washington buddies.

"Tony invited me."

The man in question grinned "Sure did."

"Have you seen this tower, guys? It's ridiculous, I just love it!" Sam beamed before turning to Thor "Whoa, those are some muscles big guy. Nice to meet you, I'm Sam Wilson or the Falcon whichever you want to call me; I helped out Cap and Widow in Washington."

"Very nice to meet you, new friend of Midgard" Thor hugged Sam, who gave a small yelp as Thor hugged him a bit too tightly.

"Midgard?" Sam asked, as Thor withdrew from the hug.

"It means Earth" Jane answered and offered her hand to Sam "I'm Jane and this is Darcy" she said, motioning to the young woman stood next to her.

"Hey" Darcy held her hand up for a second as a sort of wave "I have one question, why are you called Falcon? Can you fly?"

"Sure can sweetness, I'll show you later if you want."

Natasha was trying to stifle her laughter, much to Steve's amusement.

"No, show me now. Please!"

"Oh go on Sam, let Darcy see" Natasha encouraged him.

"Sure then, why not. Be back in a few minutes" Sam hurried out of the room and ten minutes later he came down and told them to watch through the window and sure enough he flew past the window a few times, doing some dives and just showing off in general.

"No freaking way!" Darcy said in awe, as she had her face almost pressed up against the glass.

Natasha and Steve decided to take some down time as the rest of the party were occupied watching Sam from the window.

"Do you think Clint's alright?" Steve asked Natasha, as they were sat on one of the sofas with drinks in hand "He seemed a bit edgy earlier about those earrings and me calling you Nat."

"Oh he's fine. Clint's just a bit... possessive is too strong a word, but... we've been through a lot together so, if he sees me get a bit close with other people, particularly other men, he just feels a bit ostracised and jealous I suppose. A few years ago, all we had was each other, we have a lot of history, so his behaviour doesn't surprise me, really."

"I didn't realise" Cap was now starting to take pity on the male assassin "I should talk to him, straighten things out."

"Might be a good plan, I'll be near though for back up."

"As always" Steve complimented her.

"As always" Natasha winked at Cap which just made him laugh.

...

Sam walked back in to the Avengers Tower, much to the cheers and excitable remarks of the party guests. Stark adamantly wanting the other Avengers approval to get Sam recruited into their team. Steve having to remind Stark that that request would have to go through Nick Fury, to which Stark then looked a bit glum. However, he did not remain that way for very long, as Jarvis dimmed the lights and Pepper brought out Tony's birthday cake with the candles lit, everyone started singing Happy Birthday and Stark blew out the candles. Everyone got a piece of cake, Thor and Steve walloping down three slices each, with ease.

"That frosting was to die for, Pepper!" Darcy said, as she came back to the kitchen "I need another piece."

"Help yourself" Pepper grinned "Does Thor want any more?"

"He does, but Jane won't let him" Darcy remarked much to Pepper's amusement.

"Aw they make a lovely couple! Such a shame that we don't get to see you three that often."

"I know, I like it here. This tower is just amazing." Darcy remarked as she glanced around the room "How do you not get lost in here, it's so big?"

"Just takes a while to get to know what's on each level. Once you know that, you're good to go."

Bruce appeared with his empty plate "Thanks for the cake Pepper; I think the big guy has had enough food for one night now though."

Darcy quirked her eyebrow at Bruce "So, you really turn all green and stuff when you're angry?"

Pepper chuckled as she walked off, leaving Bruce dealing with a very inquisitive and questioning Darcy.

A few moments later Thor stood up and banged the table in front of him, which made a lot of people jump "Sorry friends, I just wanted to make a toast."

"You could have just clapped your hands together or something" Stark remarked as he looked at the coffee table, which most of them were assembled around "Didn't break the table though, thankfully."

"Stark shut up, Thor's waiting to do the toast!" Natasha butted in.

Thor smiled "Happy Birthday to our friend Stark!" as he held up what was now his sixth champagne glass and he still wasn't the slightest bit drunk yet. The chorus toast of Happy Birthday was said by all, before Thor then remarked "And also a toast, to my soon to be future bride, Jane."

"What?!" a few of them remarked, whilst the remaining party guests looked on in shock.

"You're engaged?!" Darcy cried, still standing across the room by the food buffet with Bruce.

"Yes" Jane smiled and Thor put his arm around Jane and she in turn put a hand on his chest, glancing briefly up at Thor "We're getting married!"

Darcy gave a scream of delight, as did Pepper, and the others got up from their seats and rushed to congratulate the happy couple.

"Excuse me, sorry, maid of honour coming through!" Darcy called to the crowd, who quickly moved whilst smiling at her comment, to allow Darcy to animatedly hug Jane.

"When did this happen?" Bruce asked them, when everyone calmed down a bit and settled into their original seats. Bruce and Darcy now standing next to the newly engaged couple.

"About five days ago, we wanted to tell you when we were all together."

"Hey, you could've told me!" stressed Darcy "I wouldn't have said anything to anyone!"

Jane just raised her eyebrows at her, and Darcy nodded in defeat "Okay then fair enough."

Laughter ensued, before Stark stood up with a fresh champagne glass in hand.

"Even though it is _my_ birthday, we will celebrate this news. So I'll make a toast, to Thor and Jane!" The clinking of champagne glasses were heard before wedding discussion began in earnest.

...

As the dancing began a while later, Steve sought out Clint who was by himself by the food buffet area.

"Clint, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure Cap, what's up?"

"It's just...I got the feeling earlier, that maybe you weren't happy with me. You know with the whole Nat thing and buying her the jewellery?"

Clint put down his plate to turn to Steve "I'm sorry about that earlier, Steve. I was out of order. I mean I know it's stupid; you and Nat were bound to have got close since the whole Hydra business. It's just me and Natasha were a good team back in the day; we didn't really have anyone else to rely on, or anyone else to confide in. And now we're part of all this..." he glanced around at their fellow team mates and others in the room "It's all still quite new, and I guess I haven't adjusted as well to it all as Nat obviously has. And it's strange for me to see her getting so close with someone else who isn't me. I know how selfish that sounds..."

"It's okay" Steve smiled "I understand where you're coming from and I don't want to step on your toes when it comes to Natasha. I know you two have a great partnership and I don't want to ruin that."

"We're not in a relationship or anything like that, if that's what's worrying you, Steve. We are just friends, I don't think of her in that way and she doesn't think of me like that either. She's like a sister to me, so forgive me if I get a bit protective of her."

Steve smiled "I understand. I know she's a great girl and we went through a lot with the whole Hydra stuff and I just wanted to do something nice and buy her something."

Clint smiled "I know there isn't a malicious bone in your body Steve, you're a great guy and I know those 1940's values still run true for you, so I understand. And for the record, if she was to be close with anyone else, I'm glad it's you."

"Thank-you, I appreciate that" Steve smiled cautiously "So we're ... cool now? Is that the right thing that people say these days?"

Clint laughed "Yeah that's right, and yeah we're cool."

The two team mates hugged briefly, watched on by Natasha who gave a small smile, before walking over to them.

"My two favourite guys alright?" she asked, her eyes flitting between the pair of them.

"Oh are we your favourites?" Clint looked amused "I wouldn't tell the birthday boy that, it'll ruin his evening."

They laughed as the three of them re-joined the party.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The party was drawing to a close at well past 1am; Clint had crashed out on a chair, as too had Bruce but on one of the sofas. Pepper was just dragging Tony to bed; he was very drunk and was barely able to walk, whilst Sam and Darcy were still having lots of fun as they were dancing together, both very drunk too. Jane and Thor were both still remarkably sober, which was an achievement for Thor who had had eleven glasses of champagne. They were both dancing near Darcy and Sam, and Thor was being rather clumsy and kept stepping on Jane's feet. Something Jane hoped would change before their first dance at their wedding.

Steve changed the music to a slower number, a song that wouldn't be out of place in the early twentieth century. He approved much more of it compared to watching Darcy, Tony and Sam teaching Gangnam Style to Thor, an image he wouldn't be able to erase from his mind any time soon.

Groans of complaint at the music change came from the two youngest party members, who in turn downed the remainders of their champagne and started to slow dance like Thor and Jane. Although the newly engaged lovebirds were slow dancing much more romantically and kept stealing a few kisses every now and again, whereas Darcy and Sam were laughing most of the time, too drunk to recognise the intimacy of the slow song.

Natasha was sat on one of the sofas, also quite drunk, but not near enough as Darcy and Sam, the former of which had just fallen down and her dance partner had just picked her back up off the floor. Steve approached the Black Widow and held his hand out.

"Want to dance with an old man to an old song?"

Natasha chuckled and took his outstretched hand and began to slow dance with Steve. Neither of them felt uncomfortable, if anything they were enjoying it all too much.

"You're a good dancer" Steve remarked quietly to his dance partner.

"Thanks, I am Russian after all" Natasha grinned "You're not so bad yourself. I won't tell the women of America that their darling Captain America is a good dancer, or they'll be flocking around you even more than they do already."

"Maybe that won't be such a bad thing."

Natasha looked quite surprised and Cap chuckled "Well _you're_ the one who keeps trying to find me a date!"

"Oh so _now_ you're not too busy to date someone?"

"I don't know what I want any more" Steve sighed and hugged Natasha to him a little tighter, as they continued to sway to the music "But for now, I'm at peace. There's no other person I'd rather be dancing with right now."

Natasha was surprised to hear this coming from Steve, and even though she wouldn't admit it out loud, she was very content in Steve's arms and was more than happy to be dancing with him.

A few seconds later, Steve whispered something to Natasha which took her aback, and brought her out of her dream like state.

"You're very beautiful."

Natasha smiled to herself and moved slightly to look into Steve's eyes "You've drunk too much champagne."

"No I haven't. Remember, super soldier, I can't get drunk."

Natasha grinned shyly "I thought we weren't doing sentimental."

"I never agreed to that" Steve smiled honestly "And I never will."

Natasha smiled and reached up and kissed Steve on the lips ever so briefly, before resting her head in the crook of his neck.

"Thank-you" she said, softly.

Steve felt slightly stunned that Natasha had kissed him, but he managed to reply to her whilst feeling a lot bolder than usual.

"I'll compliment you more if it means I get another kiss."

Natasha laughed and moved again to face Steve "Is Captain America flirting?"

"Well I'm only reacting to getting a kiss from the Black Widow, and not an undercover one at that."

He'd got her stumped, Natasha quickly thought up something seconds later "Well savour that, because it's a very rare occurrence. Only saved for very special people."

"So I'm special am I?" Steve said semi playfully, semi seriously.

Natasha whispered in his ear "You already know the answer to that" and kissed his cheek, before returning to resting her head in the crook of his neck again, knowing full well she had fallen hook line and sinker for Captain America, and there was no way of stopping it now.

Steve was now feeling utterly confused and also somewhat hopeful, but he had a niggling feeling in the back of his mind that the alcohol may well have clouded Natasha's thoughts, feelings and judgements, so Steve tried to bury these last few moments in the back of his head and would revisit them when Natasha was sober again. For the moment he was content in the knowledge that Natasha was happy, and that their relationship was on the verge of potential new changes, and so Steve kissed the top of Natasha's head and they continued to sway to the music.

...

Two songs later and Thor and Jane had now retreated to bed, and Darcy and Sam had snuck off with a bottle of champagne, laughing and stumbling away as they did so, which was an amusing sight for the last two party guests to observe.

Natasha was now extremely sleepy and Steve wasn't far off himself, they decided to stop dancing and turned the music off, Steve questioning if they should wake Bruce and Clint.

"Well I'll give you two reasons why that isn't a good idea. Number one, Bruce is the Hulk, enough said." Natasha pointed out "And number two, Clint can shoot a moving target in his sleep if he feels threatened or is awoken suddenly, I've seen him."

"Yeah maybe not such a good idea then" Steve admitted, before he saw Natasha tripping over her own feet as she could barely walk in a straight line from being drunk. Steve couldn't help but emit a small burst of laughter as he watched her struggling.

"Hey, don't laugh at me...or I'll demote you to not my favourite friend any more."

"What?" Steve laughed.

"I'll put Stark before you!"

Steve gasped, as he played along "You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh yes I would!"

"No, not a chance! Come on, off to bed with you, you're too drunk to think correctly" He walked the few strides separating them and picked her up in his arms, bridal style.

"Steve for god's sake put me down!" Natasha burst into laughter, which in turn made Steve laugh too.

"There's not a chance in hell you remember what room you're in, let alone what level the room is on?"

"Wrong, Level 17" Natasha told him, triumphantly.

"23" Steve corrected her and Natasha gave an "Oh" in response before placing her head in the crook of Steve's neck.

"Come on then, let's go" Steve said as he headed into the lift with Natasha still in his arms.

By the time they reached Level 23 and found Natasha's room, she was fast asleep in Steve's arms, clutching on to his shirt. He prized Natasha's hands away and laid her in the bed, and took her shoes off for her, before tucking the duvet around her and kissed her head "Goodnight Nat."

...

The next morning Pepper was the first to awaken, Tony was snoring beside her and she got up showered and dressed and headed into the kitchen. She started brewing some coffee when Steve walked in, looking bright eyed and bushy tailed.

"Morning Pepper" Steve greeted, noticing that Clint and Bruce must be awake too as they weren't in the room where they had crashed last night.

"Oh, good morning Steve. How did you sleep?"

"Yeah very well. Didn't get to bed till about 2am."

"Was there anyone else still awake, or had everyone gone to bed by then?" Pepper asked.

"Natasha and I were the last to bed; we went not long after Darcy and Sam."

"I have a feeling there will be a fair few hangovers this morning, I've already seen Clint and Bruce and they're both hungover" Pepper grinned, the very thought brought a chuckle to her throat. "So, do you want some coffee?"

"No thanks, I'm just going to go for a quick run, I normally meet Sam when I'm running but I don't think he'll be in a state for that."

"I very much doubt that too, Steve" Pepper smiled "If you need a running buddy I'll go and wake Tony for you?"

Steve laughed "No thanks, I'll be alright on my own. I won't be long; I'll be back in time for breakfast."

"Alright, see you in a bit."

Steve ran around the cold, but sunny, Central Park for a while; collecting his thoughts about the party last night and on Natasha in particular, their little moment still playing in his mind, even though he tried not to think about it. Steve headed back within the hour, he would have run further but he was a little more tired than normal after the late night.

By the time Steve returned to the building it was gone 9am and when he walked into the kitchen area, Thor and Jane were awake as were Natasha, Clint and Bruce.

"Ah there he is!" Clint smiled "Morning bud."

"Morning, how are you guys?"

There were moans and a couple of 'okay' replies thrown in. Steve grinned and smiled even further when he saw that Pepper was starting to serve breakfast, so he sat at the table with the others.

About ten minutes later Sam wandered in to the kitchen, looking dishevelled.

"The Falcon awakens!" Clint teased.

"Coffee. Where's coffee?" Sam groaned, as he sat beside Jane at the table.

"Here" she passed him some, as well as some paracetamol "That'll take the edge off."

"Cheers" Sam downed the medication and turned to Steve who was sat on his other side "How bad was I?"

"Bad" Steve, Natasha, Thor, Jane and Pepper announced.

"Oh god!" Sam groaned "I don't want to know."

"Do the words: tequila, Glee, dancing and underwear ring any bells?" Natasha laughed.

The look of horror on Sam's face made the entire room burst into laughter, which in turn made the next hungover party guest to enter the room, groan in annoyance.

"The loudness! Why are you all so happy this early on a Sunday?"

"Good morning Darcy" Thor smiled, cheerily.

"Is it?" Darcy moaned and sat across from Steve "Do us a favour Spangles, pass the meds?"

Steve chuckled "You shouldn't get in such a state, Darcy. No good for your liver."

"Too early for lectures, Spangles" she downed her medication with some water that Steve also poured out for her.

"Coffee?" Darcy asked "Please tell me there's coffee, or I'm going to murder someone."

Natasha chuckled "Here, have this one it's freshly made."

"Cheers Widow" she then did a double take as she looked back at Natasha "I remember...last night...you and Capsicle, rather cute I must say."

"What's this about?" Jane asked.

"Nothing really, just Cap and Widow kissed" Darcy said, before she bit into some toast.

There were gasps and they all shot a look at Natasha and Steve, who were sat almost across from each other.

"Did you?!" Sam questioned, almost hopeful in his tone.

"Did we?" Natasha asked, looking directly at Steve, perplexed.

"You don't remember?" Steve didn't sound all that surprised, he knew how drunk she had been, so was unlikely to have remembered it.

"No" Natasha actually looked guilty "We kissed?"

"Yeah" Steve was feeling a bit uncomfortable talking to Natasha about this with everyone gawking at them. "But it's okay, it didn't mean anything I know that. All just a little drunk that's all. Don't worry about it, Nat."

Natasha just nodded her head as she stirred her cereal bowl.

Silence fell upon the room for a moment, before it was interrupted by Tony, who was the last person to finally wake up. "Morning everyone."

There was a union of "Morning" from the group, Stark sat down at the table next to Thor and looked perplexed at everyone being so quiet.

He grabbed some blueberry pancakes "What's happening guys?"

"Nothing much, we're all just still recovering from last night" Bruce told Stark, who was sat on his other side.

"Was such a good party, thanks for organising it Pepper" Tony smiled across to the woman in question who beamed back at him.

The remainder of breakfast, or brunch as was the case for a few of them, went rather swimmingly with everyone talking amongst themselves and the slightly awkward conversation about the kiss had been forgotten about, apart from Steve and Natasha that is.

Following breakfast, Steve was being a gentleman and helping Jane and Pepper clean up the living area, whilst Tony and Bruce went to the lab. Natasha and Clint went to the training room, as did Thor. Darcy tagged along just to watch them work out and Sam popped his head in to see what was happening.

Natasha was now angrily beating up the punch bag and almost hit Clint as he came to stop her.

"Whoa, Tasha stop a second. What's with you?"

"I'm fine."

Darcy interrupted from across the room "If that's fine, I hate to think what angry Black Widow looks like."

"Not helping Darcy" Clint told her before turning to his team mate again. "It's Steve isn't it?"

"I don't get that drunk that I don't remember kissing someone."

"Well it wasn't a big deal" Darcy interrupted.

Natasha frowned at her "What do you mean?"

"It was just a peck on the lips, nothing more. Here look I'll demonstrate" she grabbed Sam by his shirt and gave him the briefest peck on the lips and turned back to the Widow "See, just like that. You don't remember it because it was barely anything _to_ remember."

Sam smiled as he turned to Darcy "Feel free to use me as a kissing demonstration any time."

Darcy just rolled her eyes, whilst Natasha felt a lot better. She just hoped the plane ride home with Steve would be okay.

A few hours later they were on their way back to Washington, having said a quick goodbye to everyone and thanking Pepper for organising a good party. They discussed every aspect of the party, apart from the end of the night, which they both actively avoided. The plane ride back was made a lot easier as Sam was joining them so he could head back to his place.

When they both arrived back at Steve's apartment, Natasha was glad to see her Corvette was still in one piece. And Steve was pleased just to be home.

"So, want a drink? Wine maybe?" Natasha wondered, opening the fridge as she asked the question.

"Sure, sounds good" Steve took the bottle of red from her and poured some into two glasses and handed one to Natasha. "Where do you think you'll head off to next?"

"Trying to get rid of me are you, Spangles?"

Steve groaned "Oh god, I was hoping that hadn't caught on."

"I'm sorry, I'll stop" Natasha's grin left her face as she contemplated the idea "I'm not sure where I'll go. I may stick around for another day or so till I know what my plan is."

"Fine by me. Could use the company, kind of got used to it these last few days and I rather enjoy having people about."

"Be careful Steve, you may end up at the Avengers Tower before long."

"Maybe it's not so bad after all; they're all good guys even if Stark is a bit of an idiot sometimes."

"I'll second that" Natasha grinned as she drunk her wine "It's been a fun weekend though, not had one like that in a long time."

"Me neither. Especially with what we've been through recently, we needed that time to let our hair down a bit."

"Not that I let mine down, it was tied up high" Natasha joked.

Steve grinned "You looked beautiful; I loved your hair like that."

Natasha got a huge sense of de ja vu at the word beautiful, and then instantly that moment of the dance and the kiss came flooding back to her, Steve could sense something by her facial expression.

"Natasha?"

"I kissed you."

Steve nodded with a slight frown "Yes."

"I remember it now, we were dancing and I kissed you."

"Yeah, you were drunk though."

"Still did it though" Natasha said as a matter of fact "I wish I hadn't drunk as much as I did, I would remember it all clearly then."

"Well if you had listened to me after your third glass, then you may well have done. Should've listened to the old man" Steve told her with half a smile on his face.

"Older does not always mean wiser you know" Natasha teased.

Steve smirked "Well in this case it really does."

Natasha chuckled before swiftly putting her wine down, she got up and went to Steve's CD Player and pressed play, the CD happened to be a Sinatra one. Natasha turned to Steve and held her hand out "Dance with me."

Steve laughed "What?"

"Come on, it would be nice to dance with you when I'm aware of everything that's going on."

"That's no way to charm a guy into dancing with you, you know" he teased.

Natasha laughed "I don't know if you'd be able to handle my Black Widow charms, Rogers."

"That a challenge, Romanoff?" Steve eyed her, with a glint in his eye.

"If you want it to be" Natasha said playfully back, hand still outstretched towards him.

Steve admitted defeat and got up, putting one arm around her waist and held her one hand and brought it close to his chest. Whilst Natasha wrapped her arm around his back and leant into his chest. They remained that way for a couple of songs, just enjoying the music and Natasha could hear Steve's heart beating.

"I wish we could stay like this for the rest of the night" Natasha commented, quietly.

"No arguments from me" Steve added and kissed the top of her head.

At the next song change, Natasha moved to link her arms around Steve's neck, and he in turn put his arms around her. Natasha then said, softly, looking into his eyes "What are we doing?"

"Dancing" Steve said seriously, but knew what was coming.

Natasha smiled slightly "You know what I mean."

"Natasha..."

"Yeah?" she said, softly.

"I want to try something, but I don't want you to pull a Black Widow killer move out on me if you don't like it."

"I won't, I trust you" Natasha admitted, seriously.

Then Steve leant down and kissed her, ever so gently and within seconds he knew that he wasn't going to get beaten up by the Black Widow as she kissed him back, and they deepened the kiss. So much so that Steve picked her up mid kiss and they continued to kiss on the sofa.

"Nat wait" Steve reluctantly pulled away for a moment "Do you want this?"

Natasha was smiling "Yeah, as long as you do."

"How could I not?" Steve grinned and they kissed again.

...

Thanks for reading!


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